


Everything In Moderation

by ImBadAtNamingThings



Series: The Song and Dance of Light and Fire [2]
Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Bisexual Disaster Luz Noceda, F/F, Fluff, Humor, Light Angst, Swearing, Useless Lesbian Amity Blight
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-13 01:00:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28894791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImBadAtNamingThings/pseuds/ImBadAtNamingThings
Summary: An ancient force has reared its head on the isles, a strange being with the power to instill joy.Will the gang find out what’s going on before it’s too late? Or will this being continue its strange existence.The only thing that’s for certain, is that even immortals should takeeverything in moderation
Relationships: Amity Blight & Eda Clawthorne, Amity Blight & Edric Blight & Emira Blight, Amity Blight & Edric Blight & Emira Blight & Luz Noceda, Amity Blight & Luz Noceda & Willow Park & Gus Porter, Amity Blight/Luz Noceda
Series: The Song and Dance of Light and Fire [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1960066
Comments: 8
Kudos: 30





	1. The quest is issued

**Author's Note:**

> So I gave up on part 2, sorry! This work will be written wayyy faster than 2 would have by any measure. I didn’t have any ideas for part 2 as it was simply a filler part before this one. I’m shelving the plot line for some point in the future as its contents won’t matter till later.
> 
> Enjoy this part!

**Eda**

“You’re cute.”

“No! You are!”

Eda groaned from her spot on the chair, the two lovebirds had been at it for  _ at least _ 30 minutes now. It had been annoying after the third cycle.

“Shut the fuck up! I get that you two are in love, but I’m gonna rip my ears off if I have to listen to it for another minute!”

Luz burst into peals of laughter, nearly falling off the couch. Amity, however, wilted under Eda’s anger. Minty-Fresh’s reaction dampened her vexation considerably, like a bucket of water dumped on a lit fire. Eda sighed before taking a different approach.

“Look. I’m sorry for yelling.” Amity’s eyes widened, her eyebrows disappearing into her bangs. The Baby Blight had her hair down for once, it had been happening more and more lately, and Eda suspected that Luz was the reason.

“ _ But. _ I still don’t wanna have to suffer, listening to you two’s… incessant gushing.” Amity cringed visibly, before brushing a piece of her hair behind her ear. The action caused Luz’s giggling to peter off, her amazed stare bringing Eda no end of silent amusement.

“Sorry Eda, I won’t do it again.” Eda sighed exasperatedly, pinching the bridge of her nose.

“It’s not just you, it’s Luz too, besides… I’m not  _ that _ upset.” Amity looked confused, but resigned herself to sit silently on the couch. She picked up her legs as she sat back, cradling them against her front, swaying slightly as she tried to keep from falling over due to the off-balance center of mass.

“Right, so why’d you want us again, Eda?” Luz seemed to have broken free from her trance, tearing her eyes away from Amity to look at Eda as she asked the question.

“Well, I have an errand slash favor slash… whatever, that I need you and your little buddies to do.” Amity quirked an eyebrow, turning her full body to look at Eda inquisitively, scooting slowly with her toes till she was finally facing Eda. She asked the question that was bound to be on both her and Luz's mind.

“What do you need us to do?” Eda chuckled and leaned back into her chair, tenting her fingers. The recliner had been a worthwhile investment; her house was quickly becoming the hangout space of choice for the gang of Hexiidan teens, and it had been causing a dearth of seating room.

“I need you guys to go to the Thigh and when you get there I want you to find the Iliacus Tavern. Ask the barkeep for Nocticula, she’ll tell you the rest. Oh, and if the bartender gives you any shit, tell ‘em that I sent you.” Luz had whipped out her notepad while Eda explained their task, writing down their instructions.

Luz tapped her pen on her chin before looking back up at Eda, making a ‘continue’ gesture, she looked even more intrigued than before, placing her head on a fist..

“So why do you need us to go there and do that stuff?” Eda paused for a moment as she wracked her mind for the right answer.

“Well, I heard from some guy, who heard from a  _ different _ guy, who heard from this lady, who had overheard from this dude, who had heard that there was weird magic happening on the Thigh. So I figured that you might find something useful there, Luz. For my potions, naturally.” Luz hummed as she wrote in her notepad, doodling a bit in the corner. Amity, however, narrowed her eyes at the Owl Lady.

“And why can’t you do it yourself?” Eda rolled her eyes and shot a callous look at Amity.

“Because one, I don’t have any magic. Two, because I said so. And three, because I don’t feel like it.” Amity sighed, and nodded. Rolling her eyes, she turned back to look at Luz who was finishing her doodle in her notepad, her tongue sticking out concentration.

Eda watched in amusement as the two teens took turns sneaking glances at each other. It amazed her to no end how the two could date for  _ months _ now and still act like they hadn’t confessed yet.

Any relationship she had ever been in were fast, wild experiences that burned bright and fast before falling apart after a month or two.

When it comes to relationships, Eda was so predictable that  _ King _ might even be able to win a bet based simply off of knowing what Eda would do… probably. Then again, it  _ is _ King, so, no matter how unlikely, Eda could still see King failing at the bet, he was special that way, failing despite the odds.

After a good ten minutes of watching the kids try to not be disasters, (key word being  _ try) _ Lilith made her way into the living room, a sleeping King hanging out of her hair.

She looked terrible, the bags under her eyes had bags of their own. Lilith rubbed a hand down her face, barely managing to dent any of the sleep caked on her face. She made her way to the couch, managing to draw the attention of Luz and Amity for a moment, the kids tearing their eyes off each other in order to watch the elder witch sit on the couch groggily.

“Damn, sis, what happened to you? Get hit by a pain-train?” Eda chuckled as she administered her joke, hoping to lift her sister’s spirits a bit. She smiled to herself when Lilith chuckled slightly.

“ _ No. _ ” Lilith’s voice croaked, sounding like she had spent the last century yelling at the top of her lungs.

“Well, you look like ya did. Here, drink this.” Eda handed her mug of apple blood to Lilith, her sister nodded her head in thanks, smacking her lips dryly before downing the remainder of the stimulant in a single gulp.

“So… what  _ did _ happen to you?” Lilith sat the mug down on the coffee table, smacking her lips again and pulling King out of her hair, carefully so as to not wake him.

“Contacts, Edalyn. You know, that thing you sent me out to find a week ago? And I only came back yesterday? Gee, thanks for caring to remember.” Eda smacked herself in the forehead, falling backwards into her chair, she had totally forgotten.

“Sorry, sorry. Would you believe me if I said it was dementia?” Lilith gave her an unimpressed look, pinching the bridge of her nose tiredly and pushing her glasses up in the process.

“That’s a human disease, Edalyn.” Eda cringed, there went that excuse.

“Eh, worth the try. Worked all the time in the Human Realm… yeah maybe I should’ve known.” Luz giggled and Amity shook her head in amusement, but Lilith just looked as though she expected it.

“Well, kiddos, go call your friends or whatever. They need their briefing.” Amity nodded and pulled out her scroll, tapping away on the device at lightning speed, her nails clacking on the magical surface.

While they waited for Amity to finish her typing, Eda watched as King groggily climbed back into Lilith’s hair, being swallowed by the mane of poofy red hair. Lilith didn’t seem to notice, or more rather didn’t seem to care.

She’d make a softie out of her yet.

**—————————————**

“So that’s the gist of it.” Eda finished her explanation to Willow and Gus, taking a long sip from her fresh mug of apple blood. The metallic liquid never failed to keep her energy at a high, sometimes even overriding the curse’s more adverse effects to her spirits.

The two friends of Luz’s seemed to think over the new information, a smile forming on the plant witchling’s face.

“This is a great opportunity to get some dayblooms for my garden!” Eda nodded, perking up at the mention of the small flower.

Daybloom was useful in potions, offering a nice base for any illusion. She had been running low on the plant for a while now, using it sparingly due to her newfound difficulty in acquiring it.

“Ooh, make sure to grab me some while you’re at it. I’m runnin’ low.” Willow nodded. The little guy still appeared to be thinking about the task, a frown on his face.

King pulled his limbs out of Lilith’s hair, getting stuck as he attempted to leap off her. Undetered, the small demon gave the speech he had planned, while still hanging from Lilith’s hair by a foot like an eccentric earring.

“Minions! You must take me with you! I demand it!” The children and Lilith chuckled at the pipsqueak’s demand, but Eda panicked slightly. She could  _ not _ let him go.

But before she could put in her two snails, Luz spoke up.

“Hehe, why do you even  _ need _ to come with us? Wouldn’t it be easier to just stay here?” King gasped in offense, whether mock or not, Eda couldn’t tell.,

“You dare question your rightful ruler?!” The kids snickered and Luz nodded. “Well… if you  _ must _ know, I have to spread my influence! What is a king, if he has no army to conquer the lands with?”

Before Luz could respond, Eda interjected.

“No. You can’t go, King.” Small tears formed in his eyes, a silent plead filling his eyes as he tried his best to convince the Owl Lady with a stare. It didn’t work.

“Ugh!  _ Eda,  _ you never cared before! Why now?!” Eda sighed, picking the little guy up, to which he responded with a squeal of joy, proclaiming ‘upsies!’, before returning to his soured expression.

“Because. I have a task for you! Something special, that only you can do.” King’s eyes lit up, a smile forming under his skull as he raised his fists in anticipation.

“Really?! Me?! What am I doing?” Eda chuckled, bouncing the excited demon on her knee slightly.

“I need you to help me around the house.” King’s face fell as he groaned, clearly her task wasn’t what he had been expecting.

“ _ Fine. _ Your king will help you with your menial and mind-numbing chores.” Eda smiled and patted King on the back, he took the opportunity to climb up her arm and into her wild mane of hair.

“Alright kids. Let’s get some stuff together for you guys and I’ll send you on your way.”


	2. Where There's a Brawl, There's a Way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The journey begins, Luz and Amity are your average lovestruck teens, and Willow tries to join Fight Club.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SURPRISE! I didn't take a month to do another chapter! When I said I was gonna write insanely for this one, I meant it.
> 
> I got Rohad syndrome rn! Writing thousands of words a day!

**Luz**

“Bye Eda! We’ll be back soon!” Luz yelled across the clearing, waving excitedly as she prepped the staff for their ride. Eda had lent her Owlbert for the duration of their journey, as both a precaution in case something happened, and transport so it didn’t take hours to get there.

Lilith emerged from the Owl House, walking up to Eda’s side without her seeing her. 

“Sister, are you sure it’s a good idea to lend Luz your palisman and staff?” Eda jumped when Lilith spoke up, her hair raising slightly, like an owl’s feathers ruffling.

“Yes Lily, I’m pretty sure about this. Luz has proven capable and trustworthy enough to wield Owlbert with little to no supervision. Besides, the little guy can take care of himself.” Luz felt a proud warmth bubbling up inside of her at Eda’s statement, she beamed at the sisters, before finishing up attaching their stuff to the floating staff.

“Okay, if you’re sure, I won’t object. I must admit, the hu- _ Luz _ .” Lilith shook her head, chiding herself under her breath. “ _ Luz  _ has proven herself quite capable in my eyes too. Your little student there has shown such prowess for the magical arts that even flesh-born witches would be jealous.” Luz beamed brighter, praise from her mentor was one thing, amazing, but expected. Praise from Lilith, however? That was a rare commodity, one that she hadn’t gotten often.

Willow clasped a hand on Luz’s shoulder, using the leverage to get on the staff as well as get her attention.

“Hear that, Luz? Sounds like you're the greatest human witch to have ever been.” Willow chuckled, helping Gus onto the staff as it was a bit higher than his height.

“Well we already knew that.”

“Well we already knew that.”

Amity and Luz spoke at the same time, Amity leaned flirtily on Luz’s shoulder. The action caused  _ Luz _ to blush for once, the silent victory evident on her girlfriend’s face.

“You two are  _ adorable _ .” A voice spoke from behind them, Amity scowling in annoyance as she turned to face the new voice.

“Edric, Emira, what in the Nine Rings are you doing here?” The twins feigned hurt, melodramatically placing the back of their hands against their foreheads, their actions perfectly in sync, despite Edric’s lack of proper sight.

“Oh sister, how you wound us so.” Emira said dramatically.

“Yes, how could you betray your own blood? We only came here to check on your well-being, and how are we repaid?” Edric continued histrionically. Luz was amused, but her girlfriend seemed… less so.

“We are repaid with slights and betrayal, oh woe is us, the Blight Twins.” The twins finished with exaggerated theatrics, slumping to the ground as they pantomimed dying from heartbreak.

“Drama queens.” Amity said, the distaste clear in her tone, her eyes narrowing at her siblings.

“Oh you know it! We’re queens alright!” The twins said, leaping to their feet in an unnecessary show of acrobatics.

“I swear, if you do any more theatrics, I’ll feed you to Arlo.” Edric and Emira paled, clearly the threat had weight behind it, although Luz had no idea who Arlo was.

“Uh, who’s Arlo?” Amity stiffened, the hand she had on Luz clenched tightly, bunching up Luz’s crop top on her shoulder.

“Uh, well, hehe, not important.” Luz cocked her head to the side as Amity responded, watching in confusion as she let go and looked away, a blush radiant on her face.

“We can answer that, cutie! Arlo is what she named her abomination!” Luz nearly jumped out of her skin at the twins’ voices suddenly yelling from behind her ears.

“Not so loud, please.” Then their words sunk in, and Luz forgot all about the yelling. She grinned from ear to ear, turning her shit-eating grin on her girlfriend as she tried to hide behind her hands.

“Oh. My. God! That’s so adorable, Ami! You never did tell me what you named it! Aww, Arlo! What a cute name! Wait. Can abominations  _ eat people?! _ ” Luz’s panic rose significantly at the implications. She didn’t want to be eaten by an abomination! She’s not into that stuff!

“No! No! It was an empty threat!” Amity tried to calm Luz, reaching her hands out, palms facing towards the human. Luz’s hyperventilating ceased, and she brought herself back together.

“Sorry, sorry. I guess I’m just tired… and moody.” Amity tutted and grabbed Luz by the hand, leading her over to the staff in the middle of the clearing.

“It’s not your fault, baby.” She kissed Luz’s hand, causing Emira to stick out her tongue in disgust, Edric didn’t do anything, obviously. Amity grabbed her other hand, holding her knuckles between her thumb and index finger. She pulled Luz’s hands up and closer to herself, causing Luz to blush slightly.

“Don’t be sorry. We should get going now, you can rest on the way there. I won’t let you fall, I promise.” Luz nodded slowly, her mouth hanging open slightly as she stared at her girlfriend.

_ “O-okay.” _ Amity smiled. God, her smile. It never failed to strike a fiery spear in her heart, warming her being through even the most intense of colds.

Amity mounted Owlbert, settling herself before offering a hand to Luz. Luz took her girlfriend’s hand, and Amity pulled her up onto the staff with ease.

She was stronger than she looked.

Luz settled herself on the front of Owlbert, gripping the wood tightly. She hoped that all that weight wasn’t hurting him in any way. It didn’t seem so, as the palisman hooted as happily as ever while he waited for command.

“Alright, Owlbert! Fly us to the Iliacus Tavern please!” The palisman hooted and rose higher into the sky.

“Hold on tight you guys! He goes  _ fast _ .” Willow and Gus tensed up, leaning forwards to brace themselves. Amity, however, didn’t heed her warning.

Owlbert shot off like a rocket, making a beeline to the Thigh in the distance. Amity screeched loudly, the sound lost to the winds as they sped off.

Luz turned red and squeaked as Amity wrapped her arms around her midsection in a deathgrip. Luz stiffened like a board when Amity pressed herself into Luz’s back, burying her face in Luz’s shoulder.

“A-Amity?” Amity was shaking like a leaf, and clearly her other friends weren’t faring much better.

“L-Luz, can-can you slow this damned thing down?!” Luz cringed, and pulled up on Owlbert, causing him to slow down.

Amity gave her a grateful squeeze and loosened her grip, not letting go though. Willow breathed a sigh of relief, and Gus made a strangled sound in the back of his throat.

Amity nuzzled into Luz’s shoulder, rubbing her nose against the fabric before pulling back.

“You can sleep now, Luz. I know you’re tired.” Luz chuckled weakly. She  _ was _ pretty tired, having only gotten a couple hours of sleep the previous night..

“Y-yeah, I think I will.” She couldn’t see her girlfriend, but somehow she just  _ knew _ she smiled sweetly.

“Good.” Luz nodded and relaxed backwards into Amity, her eyelids feeling heavier by the second. It was past noon, she could tell that much, but it was far from night time.

Luz began slumping over, her bottom sliding forwards, while her top stayed firmly on top of Amity. But before long, she began sliding off the side, thankfully, Amity pulled her arms up, wrapping them around her chest.

She pulled Luz up, holding her by her arms in a bear hug of sorts. Luz’s head rolled limply backwards, her half-lidded eyes staring at Amity with as much love as she could muster.

Amity chuckled and gently kissed her forehead, whispering into her ear.

“I love you, my little human.” Luz giggled airily.

“Oh, yo también te amo, mi pequeño querido.” Amity just smiled back, and pressed her lips to Luz’s scalp once more.

“Te amo más, nena.” Luz didn’t know if she heard that right, Amity didn’t know Spanish after all.

But it was a nice sentiment as she drifted into unconsciousness.

**—————————————**

Luz didn’t wake up until they were already there.

“ _ Luz, Luz, wake up babe. We’re here.”  _ Luz’s eyes fluttered open, the bright evening sun shined right into her vision. She squinted and groaned, rolling over.

_ “No… five more minu- _ AHH!” Having forgotten she was on a thin piece of magical wood, Luz rolled over… off the staff and onto the ground.

Luz groaned, she was thoroughly awake now, and she still felt like crap. There was a bad taste in her mouth, and sleep caked in the corner of her eyes.

“You okay?” Amity was hovering over Luz, concern etched on her face. Luz blinked a couple times and rubbed her face up and down vigorously.

“I am now.” Amity froze in her place and blushed heavily, Luz smiled and stuck her tongue out playfully, it seemed that her cheesy line had worked like a charm.

“Unholy Titan, Luz… that was terrible.” Luz frowned, but Amity’s snickering confirmed to her that she hadn’t meant it.

“Alright you two, this is adorable, but if I watch any longer I might lose all my teeth to cavities! C’mon!” Willow yelled from several feet away, standing with Gus over a patch of blindingly yellow flowers, picking and putting the plants into a botany bag they had brought with them.

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t get your leggings in a bunch.” Amity rolled her eyes playfully, shooting a look to Luz that said ‘we can go if you want to, but we don’t have to’.

“Yeah, let’s get moving, Ami. I don’t want Willow dragging us with her vines.” Amity nodded and pulled back from where she was hovering over her girlfriend, shooting a hand out as she did so to help Luz up.

“Thanks.” Luz took the hand and used the leverage to stand. Once she stood up, Luz reached over to Owlbert, grabbing the staff and spinning it for flair as she brought it around to her side.

They had touched down in a small clearing, it seemed to be a large piece of land, jutting out from between the bones of the thigh towering in the distance. Sitting on the edge of the clearing, right on the boundary of the woods, was what looked like a cabin, barely bigger than the Owl House.

It was eerily quiet, and the house had nothing on it to indicate it was even lived in, let alone a  _ tavern _ . But Luz steeled herself and waltzed up to the door with her usual carefree swagger.

She knocked once, twice, thrice. Nothing. Luz sighed in annoyance, turning back to talk to the group. The moment she turned, a crackling sound came from behind the door, as well as muffled but  _ thundering  _ footsteps, getting closer by the second.

She stepped backwards from the door, afraid of what might come through. For all she knew, the entire  _ house _ was some demon, just waiting to eat her up. Thankfully, the house wasn’t a demon, and what came through the door was the exact  _ opposite  _ of what she expected.

As the footsteps boomed faster and closer to the door, Luz readied herself for a fight. Suddenly the door was thrown off its hinges, shattering into splinters as two witches came barreling through. One witch had the other in a tight headlock as they charged into, and then through, the door.

Luz dropped her readied stance in shock, placing her glyph back in her pouch. The two witches were fighting, but laughing joyously as they beat each other senseless.

Now that the door was gone, the sound of roars and cheers spilled out into the clearing. There were hoots of laughter and jeers as boisterous voices loudly argued and placed bets on the fight's outcome. Luz was still in shock, bewildered by what had happened.

“C’mon Thesia! You can hit a little harder than that!” The witch on top laughed and continued pummeling the one on the bottom, who had a little blood trickling down their nose.

“At least I’m hitting something, Kiera! You’re just being a total bottom right now!” The witch on the bottom gasped in mock offense, placing a hand over her heart.

“Lies and slander! After last night, we both know I’m a top!” Thesia blushed, and stopped her attack for a moment, seeming to reminisce on something. Kiera took the opportunity to flip them around, pinning Thesia and twisting her arm around.

Luz was watching the fight with rapt attention now. It had quickly garnered her, and her friends’ curiosity. Luz pumped her fists quickly up and down in excitement as Kiera twisted Thesia’s arm harder and harder. The woman on the bottom was refusing to give in, even though her face was a picture of agony.

Finally, the pain was too much to bear for the poor woman, and she gave in. The crowd roared and snails were thrown across tables, laughter was shared while the two witches got up, throwing their arms over each other.

Luz was shocked when they exchanged a kiss, she had figured they were fighting because they hated each other. A hand was placed on her shoulder, causing her to leap a good couple feet backwards.

Amity's hand hovered in the air above where Luz's shoulder had been. She gazed at Luz in confusion, her head cocked to one side, hair falling in a curtain over her arm.

Luz breathed a sigh of relief and walked back to her girlfriend, casting an arm around her neck. Amity just giggled and pointed at the previously brawling witches, who were making out against the side of the building.

“Let’s not get like that, please? I don’t want to fight you before we make-out.” Luz blushed and chuckled nervously, pushing a piece of hair behind her ear, (she really needed to cut it sometime).

“Yeah, heheh, before we uh,  _ make-out.” _ Amity chortled, a heavenly sound to Luz, and bumped her head lightly to Luz’s.

“Let’s head inside, before Willow joins the fight pool.” Luz looked up, and sure enough, Willow was chatting with the witches who ran the bet pool, likely asking to join one of the fights.

Gus was nowhere to be seen, but Luz figured he had just gone inside. She breathed in, puffing out her chest a bit, before following Amity into the tavern.

“I’m telling you, I can fight!” The witch at the counter rolled his eyes and fixed an unimpressed look on Willow.

“Sorry, kid. House rules. You can’t fight unless you have a staff.” Willow groaned and turned back to Luz and Amity dejectedly. Amity patted her on the back and led the three of them to the bar.

“Hey, barkeep.” The barkeep poked his head up from below the counter, his horns dragging slightly on the wood.

“Uh, sorry but we don’t serve kids alcohol here. You can have a juice box if you want, I think we have a couple o’ those out back.” Amity sighed and shook her head.

“We aren’t here for drinks. We’re looking for Nocticula.” The barkeep tensed and shot a few shifty looks around the tavern, before leaning in to whisper to the three.

“Who’s askin, pipsqueak? Nocticula is a busy woman.” Luz smirked and stepped in front of Amity to talk to the barkeep.

“The Owl Lady’s apprentice and her acquaintances, on official business from the woman herself.” The barkeep narrowed his eyes and chuckled a bit, pointing out her ears.

“So Eda’s teaching humans now? Doubt it. Get lost kid, before one of the guys here eats you. Some demons like the taste of humans, and you can’t even do magic to defend yourself.” Luz chuckled flippantly, and played up tossing her hair back, before she whipped a glyph out and smacked it onto the bar.

The glyph turned blue and a spear of ice shot out, stopping just before hitting the barkeep.

“Where. is. Nocticula?” The barkeep blinked, and broke the ice off the counter.

“Impressive, a human doing magic. Only the Owl Lady could pull something like that off.” He paused, and threw down his filthy washcloth. “C’mon, kids. I’ll take you to her.” The barkeep gestured for them to follow, opening a hatch on the counter to let them through.

Once the three friends were behind the bar, he closed the hatch again, locking it. Then he pressed on one of the stones with his foot and the grinding sound of stone on stone filled the air around them.

A secret entrance opened beneath the bar, descending into stairs.

“Come on, children. Nocticula awaits.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to my beta, RainbowBuddy, and as always, criticism is welcome!


	3. Along Came a Spider

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang meets Nocticula.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one took a little longer! Oh, and arachnophobia TW

**Luz**

The passageway was damp and musty, the smell of mildew and decay filling Luz’s nostrils.  The hollow echo of their footsteps was joined by the soft tap, tap, tap of dripping water. The sound followed them as they made their way down the tunnel, turning sideways at times to make their way past miscellaneous items stored under thick tarps heavy with dust.

Amity shuffled closer and closer to Luz as they walked, until she was pressed against her side. Luz reached down, and with her pinky she rubbed Amity’s palm, silently asking for permission. Amity wrapped her pinky around Luz’s, granting permission.

Luz grasped Amity’s hand, squeezing it occasionally. Amity smiled softly, bashfully playing with a strand of hair that had fallen out of her ponytail.

Luz nearly ran right into Willow, who had taken the lead while Luz and Amity dropped back to be mushy with each other. Thankfully, Luz stopped in time, as did Amity.

“We’re here. I’ll be going back to the bar, but uh, if I were you, I would try to not offend her. She can be… temperamental.” Luz nodded firmly, letting the barkeep past to go back to his establishment. Amity squeezed her hand tighter.

They were standing in front of an unassuming wooden door, but upon closer inspection, Luz noticed small runes and glyphs etched into the grooves of the wood. There were ones she recognized, like illusion and fire, and others she didn’t. Unfortunately, she didn’t have the time to copy them.

Willow looked back to Luz, placing a hand on the doorknob.

“Are we ready?” Luz’s breath hitched, if she was being honest, she was a little scared of whoever this Nocticula lady was. But she had fought Grom. She could face some woman with anger issues.

“Yeah, open it.” Willow nodded, and made to open the door.

Before she could turn the handle, the door went up in flames, folding into itself and falling out of reality through a hole like that of a singed film reel.

Willow leapt back, shaking her hand in pain from when it came into contact with the flames. The hole in reality stitched itself closed and beyond the threshold stood a woman, her hand pointed at the place where the door had been. Yellow flames licked off her outstretched hand, dripping to the floor. She had long, unsightly black fingernails, each nail flecked with a dark red substance.

The lady had pitch black hair which cascaded down her back like rivers of midnight sky. Her porcelain skin had its visage ruined, marred with streaks of pulsating yellow similar to that of lightning cracking in the sky. The marks ran up her neck like spider-web cracks on fractured glass, stemming from a point beneath the collar of her expensive looking tunic.

Luz’s breath hitched as the woman turned to face them and she would have called her beautiful, had it not been for her eyes.

Nocticula had eight eyes like a spider, each one pitch black, save for a single point of flickering yellow in the center, acting as a pupil of sorts. The cracks in her skin ran all the way up to her eyes, which were affixed on the three friends standing in the doorway.

Her gaze flitted over their forms, each eye looking at something different on the trio. Luz shrunk in on herself, feeling scrutinized by Nocticula’s scanning of her every feature. Slowly, one by one, each of the eyes corrected into a single gaze and focused into a point on Luz. Nocticula cocked her head to the side,  _ and smiled. _

Her lips pulled back and a line stretched across her face as the grin revealed  _ hundreds _ of razor sharp teeth, row upon row filling the maw of the spider-lady. Luz thought that she cocked her head to the side, but she was mistaken. Instead, Nocticula’s torso fell to the side, large spider legs unfurling from her lower half.

Luz took a shaky step back, her legs nearly failing her as the monster took skittered forwards, her spindly legs clacking menacingly on the floor. Willow grimaced and gripped the remainders of the doorway, sweat beginning to make its way down her face.

Amity glared at Nocticula, placing a hand in front of Luz to push her back if necessary. Nocticula stalked closer to the trio, her torso swaying from side to side as she walked, causing her hair to fall over her eyes and face.

The room seemed to darken, fading until it turned pitch black for a moment, and then it brightened back to normal.  Luz yelped as Nocticula's glowing features suddenly loomed out of the darkness right in front of her. As one, she, Willow, and Amity stumbled backwards, away from the hideous creature. 

Willow's glasses clattered to the floor and her hair further obscured her vision as she frantically back peddled on her hands and butt, scooting out into the hall. 

Amity's head collided with the exposed stone of the doorway and she stumbled woozily as she fell. The trembling hand she brought to the back of her skull came away wet and sticky.

Luz looked up from where she had fallen and froze in fear as the spider-woman hung above her. The sickening smile only grew as she breathed in deeply, smelling her prey before she killed it. Luz was too terrified to scream and silent tears came to her eyes as Nocticula reached down, her smile gone, a frown replacing the horrifying maw.

‘At least she looks somewhat normal now.’ Luz mused wildly. A choked sob escaping her lips as Nocticula’s hand made contact with her cheek, sliding down to pull her face up.

Her eyes met with Nocticula’s, but instead of finding hunger there, Luz instead found compassion and concern, the woman’s features twisting into a more sympathetic expression as her hands glowed slightly.

Suddenly Luz felt warm like a fire was blazing inside, burning away her tears and fear and replacing it with a bright, burning happiness that bubbled up from her gut. She giggled slightly, before laughing incredulously at the situation, how could she have ever been scared of Nocticula?

“Hmm, child. Do not be afraid of what you do not understand, the unknown is but a gift to experience things in a light you never have before.” Nocticula’s voice was warbly, the pitches rising and falling like waves on the ocean and, as she spoke, her torso swayed with each syllable.

Luz found herself giggling even harder, tears nearly obscuring her vision as she watched Nocticula stalk closer to Willow. The witchling scooted backwards until she hit the wall of the hallway, closing her eyes in fear as Nocticula cast a spell circle, forming a small neon yellow orb of energy.

She sent the orb directly into Willow’s forehead and the plant witch opened her eyes wide, chuckling slightly. Nocticula smiled again, but the blindingly bright smile with her razor sharp, almost bleached-like teeth seemed less scary, and more comforting now.

Like an actual smile.

Amity clutched her head where she had hit it, attempting to staunch the blood flow as Nocticula slowly approached her. Amity drew a shaky circle in the air, hurling a pink fireball at the spider-witch. Nocticula merely ducked the attack, tutting as her torso rose back into position, her legs never stopping their advance.

“Come, child, let me heal you.” Amity shook her head, slowly at first, but picking up speed as she chanted her objections under her breath.

“No, no, no, no, no! Don’t come any closer! I don’t know  _ what _ the Skull you did to Luz and Willow, but I won’t let you do it to me!” Nocticula narrowed her eyes, and her smile only grew as she cocked her torso to the side.

“Have it your way, then.”

The room darkened again, turning pitch black for a moment just like before. Once the light level returned to normal, Nocticula was suddenly directly in front of Amity, whose eyes widened, falling back like Luz and Willow as she looked up at the towering spider-witch.

But before she could even scream, Nocticula waved a quick yellow spell circle into the air, causing a pale golden glow to wash over Amity. The glow concentrated on multiple points on Amity’s body, mostly the gash on her head, but also at three different points under her shirt, as well as one on the outside of her thigh.

The gash closed completely, and the blood flaked off and evaporated from her clothes. Luz frowned at what the other injuries could be, although Nocticula seemed to know because she frowned and shot a sympathetic look at Amity.

The corners of Amity’s mouth twitched up slightly, betraying the smile she was no doubt trying to hide. It must’ve taken an immense amount of self control to hide a smile, as Luz couldn’t do it ninety percent of the time.

She was glad that Amity didn’t feel she had to hide her smiles around Luz, it warmed her insides even more than Nocticula’s magic did. Luz shot up from where she was sitting on the floor, rushing over to help Willow to her feet.

Willow thanked her for the help as Luz pulled her to her feet, turning to face the large spider-witch. Nocticula smiled and clasped her hands together as Amity rose and shuffled over to join Luz and Willow.

“Now, I think we got off on the wrong foot here. I know my appearance can be… shocking, to say the least. I get that you were scared, but as you can now see, there is nothing to be afraid of!” A deafening silence followed Nocticula’s exclamation.

“Yeah, uhm, we were sent by the Owl Lady to find you? She said you would give us a task, or quest, or whatever?” Willow was the first to speak, her words causing Nocticula to press her long fingers to her chin in thought.

“Ah, yes! I remember! Eda said she was sending a human and three others… Where's your fourth? I only count three of you. Is he invisible?” Luz looked around, and sure enough, Gus hadn’t caught up with them yet. She had no idea how she didn’t notice.

“No… he’s around here  _ somewhere _ . He ran off earlier, and he hasn’t returned.” Luz was beginning to get worried for her friend. If Augustus went missing, or worse, got  _ hurt, _ she would never forgive herself!

“Hmm, that isn’t good. We should set off at once to find him!” All three friends nodded in agreement, joining Nocticula as she made her way through the tunnel.

“So what task were you gonna have us do? It doesn’t matter now that we’re searching for Gus, but I’m curious.” Luz sped up to match Nocticula’s strides, practically jogging at her side.

The spider-witch blinked all eight of her eyes, and looked down at Luz, hanging her torso over the human slightly.

“Oh, well I  _ was _ going to have you three young witches go deliver something to my master.” Luz chuckled and pointed out her ears, flattered that she had thought she was a witch.

“I’m a human, you see. I’m not really a witch.” Luz’s voice betrayed the sadness she felt at not being a true witch and she looked down at the floor dejectedly, counting the steps she took as a sort of distraction. Nocticula chuckled, causing Luz to sink further down into herself in shame.

“Oh child. Of course, I knew you were human. That does not make you any less a witch than me, or anyone else on these Titan-forsaken isles.” Luz looked up at Nocticula in awe, she had heard those words from Eda and her friends too many times to count, but to hear them from not only a complete stranger, but a witch as powerful as Nocticula seemed, caused the words to sink in finally.

“Th-thank you! That’s really nice of you!” Nocticula smiled warmly, ruffling Luz’s hair as the four of them continued down the tunnel.

“Hmm, as a human, you do the Old Magic, correct?” Luz thought for a moment, she had no idea what she meant by ‘Old Magic’.

“Do you mean my glyphs?” Nocticula nodded, although the motion was more of her entire torso bobbing, but Luz interpreted that as a nod.

“Yes, the glyphs. That’s the ancient magic the witches used before they developed bile sacs.” Luz facepalmed, she had no idea why she hadn’t made the connection.

“Ohh, I see, but why do you ask?” Nocticula paused for a moment, reaching into a pouch on her belt. She pulled out a piece of paper.

“Your reward for the delivery would have been a glyph of my master’s magic. It’s a very special kind of magic, only those under my master’s influence can use it.” Luz watched in wonder as Nocticula waved her hand, small spell circles forming in the air, releasing light that caused warmth and happiness to fill Luz’s entire being.

“Save for  _ one _ method, the Old Magic, or as you call it, ‘glyphs’.” Luz gasped in awe, even  _ she _ could feel the ancient power in this form of magic. Although it felt  _ familiar, _ somehow. She couldn’t place her finger on it, but the power radiating off of the joy magic was familiar to her.

Suddenly, all of the lights disappeared, Nocticula frowned, sighed, and began walking again. Luz sped to catch up with her.

“What happened?” Nocticula smiled sweetly, and continued to walk.

“Unfortunately, I can only use my master’s incredible power for so long per day. Thankfully, it doesn’t drain my bile, but it has its own limits. I used most of it on you three.” Luz felt bad for using most of Nocticula’s special magic, but the spider-witch reassured her with a hand on her shoulder.

“Do not worry, child. I chose to use my master’s power, it is not your fault in the slightest.” Luz smiled back up at Nocticula brightly, meeting her toothy grin with a beam of her own.

“You humans are such strange creatures, it never gets old how much joy one can hold. Much more fun than witches, witches are… very sad creatures.” Luz’s eyes widened, and she stared up at Nocticula incredulously.

“You’ve met other humans?!” Nocticula laughed loudly, holding her belly as her legs continued unperturbed.

“Yes, I have. Where do you think J.R.R Tolkien got the idea for Shelob?” Luz squealed in amazement at the spider-witch.

“You were the inspiration for Shelob?! You must be, like, really old then!” Nocticula laughed again.

“Yes, child, I am quite old indeed.”

Finally, the group reached the secret hatch that led up to the bar and Nocticula pushed on a stone in the wall, causing the hatch to grind open.

“Shall we go find your friend?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry not sorry for those afraid of spiders.

**Author's Note:**

> Criticism is heavily appreciated!
> 
> Also, a huge thank you to my new beta reader!, RainbowBuddy! Check out his account, his fic One Lifetime Is Not Enough is one of the best fics I’ve ever read, hands down.


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